What started as a good thing went bad—thanks to HRC and Barney Frank.
Hold a mirror up to gay generalizations and you’ll see the humor in it all.
A New York Times story on young gay married men presented dry stereotypes.
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By Joseph Couture
Friday, April 25, 2008
An old enemy is back. Syphilis infection rates have increased dramatically in many major cities throughout North America, including New York.
According to the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the infection rate for syphilis in men who have sex with men (MSM) jumped a stunning 62 percent from 560 cases in 2006 to 927 last year. In many of those cases, there is a concurrent infection with HIV, which together suggests an increase in the overall rates of unsafe sex among MSM.
This is significant, troubling and in need of correction. But we must be careful how we go about correcting the situation and how we (and how we allow others) to assign moral blame, if we must assign such blame at all.
It seems MSM are often the disproportional targets of moral campaigns to clean up their collective act. No one is denying that irresponsible behavior happens in our community and that we need to both acknowledge that fact and take responsibility for it.
But it seems the larger heterosexual community needs to do the same and together we ought to rethink our tendencies to point fingers at each other and use this as an opportunity to re-evaluate our strategies for dealing with sexually transmitted infections (STI).
The Center for Disease Control just released new statistics showing that 1 in 4 adolescent girls in the United States currently have an STI. That translates into more than 3.2 million girls in this country.
By comparison, an increase of a few hundred cases of gay men with syphilis in New York shows that the majority of the men having sex with men are behaving responsibly. Such low numbers in such a large community proves that most men are making responsible choices and practicing safe sex.
That's not to say the increase isn't a concern or that there isn't more work to be done. The health department also released stats recently showing a spike in HIV infections in young men. If young straight girls are getting STDs at an alarming rate, and young gay men are as well, then it is clear we need to target the young population for more education.
The official policy of many government and school officials is that only abstinence should be taught in schools and full sex education and counseling regarding safe sex practices should be avoided. The thinking is that if they were to talk to young people about sex, they would go out and do it.
The unfortunate and sad irony is that strategy has woefully backfired. The United States has one of the highest rates of STIs in the developed world despite the best efforts of many uptight leaders to stop young people from engaging in sexual activity.
Perhaps it would be helpful to look to other jurisdictions and what they are doing. The City of Toronto is also experiencing an outbreak of syphilis in its MSM demographic.
Peter Bochove is the co-owner of the popular bathhouse called Spa Excess as well as the president of the Hassle Free Clinic where they offer free and anonymous STI testing and treatment, both in their clinic and on-site in all of the Toronto bathhouses.
“Here we have a partnership with the public health department and together we have blitzed the bathhouses with a massive educational campaign," he says. He told me that the local health department came into every bathhouse in the city and did presentations on transmission, testing, treatment and prevention
His bathhouse also plays a looping video on their porno channel in between movies that teaches about syphilis and how to protect yourself from it that was prepared by the local AIDS committee. They also have posters up in every room with factual information. "We believe in a collaborative effort where the bathhouse owners, the community and the public health department work with each other," he says.
The health department is also running advertisements in all of the local gay magazines warning men of the danger syphilis poses, what to look for, how to protect themselves, and encouraging them to get tested.
The message from the gay community has been clear: Take responsibility for the problem, talk about it and do something about it. Together with medical officials they are working to solve the problem, especially with regard to educating the younger population.
The strategy of hiding the truth from young people hasn't worked. Neither will blaming others for our own behavior; likewise, it won't help us to allow conservative heterosexuals to scapegoat us to distract from the problems in their own community.
We need a comprehensive and real strategy for the future, one that serves us all—gay and straight, young and old—without judgment or fear.
Joseph Couture is a freelance journalist and the author of “Peek: Inside the Private World of Public Sex.” He can be reached via this publication.
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